Letter: Stop this agreement

What is TPP? You may have heard about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the latest trade agreement that is attempting to be fast-tracked through congress. This proposed 12-country NAFTA-on-Steroids as it is being called is not about trade but more about policies that would benefit corporations and international investors.

And these people do not care about the implications on our country or other countries. They do not care about people being exploited around the world by bad trade agreements. Other countries are objecting and many members of Congress. This law would promote offshore jobs. Make no mistake jobs are not be taken away by other countries, jobs are being given away by this trade agreement as well as past trade agreements.

TPP would empower attacks on countries’ environmental and consumer safety laws, ban Buy Local policies and raise drug prices, legitimize Internet censorship, reduce financial regulations, affect copyright laws. So far, not much has to do with trade but has more to do with undermining policies that help and protect citizens. Scary foreign policy tactics will be used to tell us that without this treaty there will be instability abroad and U.S. security will be threatened. These claims were made for past trade deals and have proven to be false or happened in some case because of the trade deals.

We cannot be distracted be foreign policy scare tactics from the main issue. TPP is not in our interests. Make no mistake this concerns all of us. In Congress, there are concerned Democrats and Republicans opposed to TPP. If you are as concerned as I am, waste no time and contact your representatives and let them know what you think and why. They don’t call it fast track for nothing.